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2011-02-15T07:20:00.001-08:00

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Its Science Facts Maybe U Don't Know

2011-02-15T05:45:00.000-08:00

It's time to refresh our brains with another list of fascinating fact lets. These mini-facts are all science based and should be news to some readers.

1. Raindrops are not shaped like a teardrop (as they are almost always depicted in drawings) – they are actually spherical.

2. When something "sublimes" it turns directly into a gas from a solid – bypassing the liquid state. This is what would happen if you throw dry-ice into a fire.

3. Gorillas sleep in nests – they weave together soft foliage and bent branches from trees. Males tend to like sleeping on the ground while females like to have their nests in trees.

4. Champagne doesn't fizz because of carbon dioxide – it fizzes because of dirt or dust. In a completely smooth glass with no dust molecules in it, champagne would be completely still.

5. Most digestion occurs, not in the stomach, but in the small intestine. This may be the reason that a person can be bulimic whilst still staying fat.

6. The red juice that comes out of rare steak is not blood – it is myoglobin a close relative of blood. Almost all the blood has been removed from a steak by the time it hits the market.

7. Plastic bags are better than paper bags for the environment. The manufacturing process that makes paper bags requires far more energy than that which produces plastic. Recycling paper bags takes more energy than recycling plastic, and paper bags take up more space in a landfill. Because landfills are usually airtight beneath the surface, paper and plastic are equally bad at biodegrading.

8. Polar bears are fascinating creatures. Their fur is transparent (not white), their skin is black (not white), and when kept in warm humid environments, their fur can turn green from algae.

9. Pet allergies are usually not allergies to fur but allergies to the animal's dead skin, saliva, or waste matter. Regularly cleaning pets can dramatically reduce allergies.

10. The tongue map is a lie – you can taste all tastes on all parts of the tongue. The tongue map is derived from a discredited German paper from 1901.

11. When you hold a shell to your ear to hear the sea, the sound you hear is actually your own blood rushing through your veins! You can use any cup shaped object to hear this effect.

12. When you are alive, your brain is pink. When you die, it turns grey. While we describe the brain as "gray matter" and "white matter", this is not a true description of its color.

13. Mercury, the fascinating liquid metal is not the only liquid metal. Gallium is solid at room temperature but will melt if held in your hand, caesium (Cs), and francium (Fr) – the second rarest naturally occurring element, can also be liquid at or near room temperature.

14. Dolphins don't drink water – if they drank sea water it would make them ill and potentially kill them. They get all of their liquid needs through the foods they eat.

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Job burnout? Here's how to beat it

2011-02-09T06:01:00.000-08:00

Is your job putting you under a lot of stress? Do you feel drained of all the life pleasures? Does your job feel extremely boring and painfully empty? Does life feel stressful and unbalanced? If so, you may be struggling with job burnout which makes your job look dull and drains all your enthusiasm.

Job burnout can affect everyone at one point or another. It doesn't matter if you are a blue collared worker, senior management or even the owner of the company. Demands of the work place can affect an individual both mentally and physically. Many people are working extra hours and bearing the brunt of the same. In such fast paced time, job burnout has become the number one cause for employee attrition.

What is Job Burnout?

Job burnout (or job depression) is a state of physical, emotional and psychological fatigue caused by long-term exposure to demanding work situations. In extreme cases, your work performance, health, and personal life suffer. When a person has suffered job burnout he/she will have feeling of cynicism and negativity. Even people with extremely high motivation have fallen prey to this 21st century disease.

What are the symptoms of Job Burnout?

As job burnout is more of a mental state, a lot of its symptoms are also more mental than physical. But extreme cases of job burnout also show physical signs of it.

Inability to concentrate

Occasional feelings of frustration and dissatisfaction

Anger, depression and anxiety

Emotional fatigue and depletion of energy

Feeling of no control over your work or life

Insomnia

Forgetfulness

Low productivity at work

Frequent headaches, back pain, muscle aches

Change in appetite or sleep habits.

What are the causes of job burnout?

There are many causes of burnout. The major ones are related to the job itself. Here are a few:

Lack of recognition or rewards for the work done

Vague or extremely demanding job expectations

Dull and Monotonous work day in and day out

Lack of breaks or vacations

Insufficient salary and other rewards

Being stuck in the wrong job.

It is a known fact that job burnout (as the name suggests) happens at the job. However, there are various lifestyle factors that can lead to it as well. For instance:

Lack of personal and supportive relationships

Working too hard in fear of mass layoffs

Not getting enough of sleep

Irregular diet

Certain personality traits also contribute towards your experience of stress, making you more susceptible to burnout. While much of ones personality is inborn, it's important to be aware of how your personal tendencies can contribute to your stress response, so you can adjust accordingly:

Perfectionistic tendencies; nothing is ever good enough

Reluctance to delegate to others; the need to be in control

Pessimistic view of yourself and the world

Type A personality; being impatient with people and life's minor hassles, and having trouble keeping from lashing out at people.

Job burnout is not excessive stress. Stress is a major contributing factor but not the whole story.

You may realize that everything at your job is going smoothly and you have cordial relationship with your boss but you may still feel a burnout.

Stress is a result of excessive job involvement but burn is a result of job disengagement. Stress will result in loss of energy but a burnout will cause a loss of motivation.

What should I do about it?

Recuperation from job burnout is possible, but it requires changes and takes a lot time. If you feel that the above symptoms are quite true to yourself and think that there is an impending burnout, here are a few tips that you can implement:

Take a vacation from work. Sometimes job burnout is a result of constant work and no play. In such a situation, it is better to take a break and do something else.

You can also set a time each day when you completely disconnect. Turn off your phone, get away from your laptop/computer, and stop checking email.

When you wake up in the morning, take 10 to 15 minutes to sit in silence each morning. During this time, breath deeply and write in your journal or read something that inspires you.

Top Ten Bar Drinks

2011-02-06T18:44:00.001-08:00

With innumerable bar drink recipes circulating across the web, it is really difficult for someone to find the perfect drinks for a cocktail party. Whether you are planning to throw a party, or going to want to hang out with friends and enjoy a night out, you need to know about the bar drinks. Everyone has a taste of his own, and that is the reason bar drinks vary from one place to another. A drink that is popular in the nightclubs of Las Vegas might not be the best one in the pubs of London. Therefore, it is always safe to possess some idea of the different types of bar drinks, and, at the same time, avoid embarrassing situations when you hang out with your friends or with your partner. As you know, the popularity of bar drinks varies from one place to another, and it is literally impossible for someone to collect information of every drink recipe. However, if you want, you can at least check out the top ten bar drinks that you can find in almost every bar. Whether you are planning for a home bar or just for partying with friends, this top ten bar drink list could be helpful.

1. Margarita

Margarita, one of the most popular cocktail drinks, is available in different variations. Conventionally, Margarita is known to be a cocktail of orange liquor, lime juice and tequila. Yet, there are other variations like blue margarita, blue lagoon margarita, apple margarita, coco margarita and many more.

2. Martini

If you are looking for a classic drink served in an old fashioned wine glass, Martini is for you. The cocktail, which is generally a mix of vodka and gin, can be served on the rocks or chill, depending on your taste. Yet, there are variations like bone dry martini, dry martini and many more.

3. Mojito

Someone who wants to get a little tipsy can surely opt for Mojito, which is a combination of rum, mint and sugar. This popular drink can refresh your mind in the summer days. Mojito, which was initially a popular bar drink of Cuba, is now popular in all tropical countries.

4. Bloody Mary

If you are looking for some vodka cocktail, you can surely opt for Bloody Mary. Made with a mixture of tomato juice and vodka, Bloody Mary can be the perfect drink for a winter morning. You can add some spices to garnish this drink.

5. Beer

Icy cold beer with white foam on its top is undoubtedly one of the most popular bar drinks across the globe. Though drinks made with beer are not classified as cocktails, it enjoys popularity in almost every bar. If you want to warm up yourself on the winter nights, beer is for you.

6. The Daiquiri

Chilled daiquiri is undoubtedly among the ten most popular bar drinks. Daiquiri recipes comes with a wide range or variations as you can prepare it by mixing rum and any fruit you prefer. Pour some ice in the mix and blend it to get the chilled and smooth daiquiri.

7. Tonic With Gin Or Vodka

If you are looking for some common and traditional drink available in every bar, you can opt for tonic with gin or vodka. This is the perfect drink for any season, and any time. To get the flavor, mix tonic with gin or vodka. If you want, you can also garnish the drink with some lime.

8. Sea breeze

Sea breeze is often considered to be the perfect summer cocktail in Hawaii, United States. Vodka, grapefruit juice, cranberry and ice are all what you need to blend for making this cocktail. This drink is often confused with bay breeze, which is only a fruit juice with cranberry and pineapple.

9. The Long Island Ice Tea

If you are planning to get a little intoxicated in your night out with friends, opt for the Long Island Ice Tea. It is a mix of rum triple, rum, vodka, tequila, sweet and sour mix and cola. When served with ice, it will make you feel high.

10. The Manhattan

Sweet and bitter vermouth when added with quality scotch, the Manhattan is a popular drink among the frequent bar goers. This cocktail has received immense popularity among people and can be served chilled or on rocks. As it is a popular drink, it is available in almost all bars.

10 Types of Men To Stay away from

2011-02-04T19:36:00.000-08:00

Currently on the market? Good for you, girl! But make sure you read this post before rushing into a new relationship. Here are ten types of man that are not likely to make you happy, and from my point of view, it’s better to stay away from them as soon as they show one of these patterns.

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Born complainers

Nothing will ever be good enough for this man, you’ll always be too loud, too stupid, too happy…..Avoid him like you would the plague, you’ll never be good enough for him and he’ll just kill your self esteem.

‘Damaged’ men

Who don’t want to be fixed. On your first date he’ll announce that he is not over his broken heart. On your tenth, you’ll realise that he isn’t just broken hearted; he enjoys it, and has made a solemn pact to never let anybody in again. His armour is so thick that you’ll never get through, so don’t waste your time trying.

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Guys that love sports more then you

Most guys will put a sport first at some point, but you know that he’ll be there for you if you need him. Guys who love sports too much, however, won’t care if the house is on fire or the babies crying, he’ll just want another beer and some “peace” to watch the match.

Men who analyse you

He thinks he’s Freud, and analyses your every move, from the flavour of crisp you choose to what you watch on TV. He’ll sit with a smug smile, convinced that by labelling you he’ll be keeping you hooked. Soon he’ll be trying to “fix” you with his weird theories….bin him now.

Pretty-Pretty boys

They will just leave you feeling ugly while he spends his time fixing his hair and acting more beautiful and delicate then you. Find a more masculine man, and leave him preening himself

Mr. Im-Better-Then-Everyone

He won’t do you any favours either. He’ll never smile, or be happy for you, and if you spend long enough with him you’ll start to despise the human race too. Leave him to feel smugly better than anyone, and go meet someone amazing.

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Paranoid men

Something gave them the green eyed monster, and it’s just never gone away. He’ll presume your cheating, hate anything that makes you look good and constantly accuse you of flirting with others. He won’t be happy until he’s the only person in your life, so bail now.

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Men who just haven’t grown up

These men refuse to get a job, blame everyone else for their laziness and unhappiness, and are constantly outraged that they are not respected. If he hasn’t grown up by now, chances are he’ll never take any responsibility, so stay well clear.

Cheaters

Obviously, it doesn’t matter who this guy has waiting for him at home, if he sees somebody he likes, he’ll seduce them. Save yourself the heartache and live by the old saying, “Once a cheater, always a cheater”, because if it wasn’t true, wouldn’t somebody have proved it wrong by now?

Cruel men

The kind of man who gets off from the power of refusing to take you somewhere, or spend money on you, or any type of power at all. He won’t get better, and it’s not because he loves you. Walk away, as fast as you can

Top 10 Lesser Known Serial Killers

2011-02-04T19:21:00.000-08:00

We all know about serial killers like Jack the Ripper and Charles Manson but there are some that are virtually unheard of. However, this does not mean that they weren’t as ruthless or heartless- just that they managed to remain in the shadows.

1. John Robinson

According to research, over 11 women have been linked to this serial killer- they are either missing or dead. He carried out these murders over a course of 16 years and made sure that some of them would never be found. Robinson had four children and was passionate about two things- murder and money.

2. Larry Eyler

Larry Eyler attacked his victims and killed them on highways which is why he was referred to as the Highway Killer. He would lure men towards secluded area, beat them up and murder them. His victims were almost always disemboweled. Eyler eventually confessed that he had killed 21 people.

3. Peter Kurten

Kurten killed young women every week during 1929. The bodies would be found horribly mutilated and slashed to death. He confused the police and made it seem like he was helping them find the bodies. This serial killer killed over 30 people but allegedly said that he would have liked to kill more simply because he enjoyed it.

4. Arthur Shawcross

After a brief stint with the army, Shawcross returned to America and married four different women over the years. He started killing young boys and girls in 1972- he would take them to isolated areas and strangle them to death. He spent 15 years in jail after which he started killing prostitutes.

5. Bobby Joe Long

Long would first rape women and then murder them- he took nine lives in 1 year. He was very accident prone when he was growing up and his mother was overly protective of him. By the time he was arrested, he had killed 9 and raped 50 women.

6. Carl Panzram

Carl Panzram spent many years in jail where he was tortured, beaten and sexually abused. By the time he came out, he was full of hatred. He killed people in different parts the world including Europe, South America and Scotland. In Africa, he killed his victims and fed their bodies to crocodiles. Panzram also raped and murdered two young boys.

7. Peter Sutcliffe

Peter Sutcliffe killed 13 women and attacked seven others but let them go. His most brutal crime was committed on a middle-aged women who was walking down the street one night. He hit her on the head till she fainted and then cut open her stomach but ran away without killing her.

8. Dennis Nilsen

Dennis Nilsen liked to kidnap young boys and force them to sleep over at his house. He would then kill these boys because he was scared that they would leave him. He kept the dead bodies in his house and made them pose all around to make it look like they were eating or bathing or sleeping.

9. Fritz Haarmann

Fritz Haarmann seduced a young boy and spent several months in jail. 5 years later Fritz told them that he had killed a boy and hidden his head in his apartment- in the kitchen to be precise

10. Gerard Schaefer

Gerard Schaefer was arrested in 1973 for killing two people but it is said that he killed 30 more. Because he was an ex-policemen, women would trust him enough to follow him after which he would rape, mutilate and murder them.

Top 10 Most Expensive Domain Names Ever Sold in the World

2011-02-04T19:13:00.001-08:00

Here’s the list of most expensive domain names ever sold in the world (2010). Domain name is one of the most important online business asset. With a good a brandable domain name people can come directly to a website as it’s easier to remember. The most expensive domain names is always coming from one word domain name. So here’s the most expensive domain names ever sold in the world

10. Toys.com: $5.1 million

Toys ‘R Us bought the domain for $5.1 million in 2009.

9. Casino.com: $5.5 million

This gambling domain was sold for $5.5 million in 2003.

8. Israel.com: $5.88 million

The domain was sold for $5,88 million in 2004 to Joel Noel Friedman, a 46-year-old Jewish American. He kept the domain himself rather than seek profit. His motivation of buying the domain was simply prevent the domain to be misused by somebody else.

7. Beer.com: $7 million

The domain was sold for $7 million in 2004. The domain just parked and fill with beer related link today.

6. Diamond.com: $7.5 million

The domain was sold to Ice.com for $7.5 million in 2006. The domain then use for online jewelry retailer website.

5. Business.com: $7.5 million

The domain was sold to Jake Winebaum, a previous chairman of the Walt Disney Internet Group, and Sky Dayton for $7.5 million in 1999. The domain then use for a business search engine and directory. The whole website was then sold to Yellow Pages publisher RH Donnelly for $345 million in July 2007.

4. Porn.com: $9.5 million

Porn.com is simply the website like its name. It was sold for $9.5 million in 2007.

3. Fund.com: $9.99 million

The domain was sold for $9.99 million in 2008. The domain is used for information on investment funds option and fund expert advice.

2. Sex.com: $14 million

The domain was bought in 2004 by Gery Kremen, who is founder of match.com, in 1994. And lastly sold for $14 million in 2006.

1. Insure.com: $16 million

The domain was sold to QuinStreet for $16 million in 2009. The website then developed to provide car, health and life insurance quote.

The 10 NEW rules of office etiquette

2011-02-03T08:08:00.000-08:00

Today's workplace is undergoing a significant transformation thanks to technology, global operations and increasing contribution of knowledge services.

The knowledge workers of today are tech-enabled, on the move and constantly balancing multiple priorities both personal and professional all day long. The line between professional and personal time has ceased to exist for many workers in today's economy. The office itself has become virtual or has moved to the home for a number of people. In such a situation, it has become imperative to be even more sensitive of some codes of conduct," asserts Rajit Anand, vice president Technology, Sourcing and Governance at Pearson.

So what aer the 'rules' of conduct in this transformed work environment? Here are some new codes of etiquette in play:

Breakdown of hierarchy

The steps to the top haven't collapsed, so to say, but have definitely become more visible and amenable. Affirms Anjan Ray, director of Business Development, Honeywell's Specialty Materials SBG, in India, "The easing of the "Sir" and "Ma'am" culture is a significant pointer. It is now more common to address senior colleagues by first name and effectively trim the hierarchy barriers -- not just in MNCs but in many family-owned companies as well."

E-mail fixation

Hrishikesh Pore from Trent Hypermart asserts what should be the ideal method of using official e-mail, especially with increased levels of monitoring of communication at work these days. "E-mail should be strictly for official communication only. Personal communication should be sent using personal internet mail."

Ray also mentions a "somewhat strange effect of e-mail these days. One often tends to mail people in the same office, typically generating long trails and complex debates -- rather than just walking over to the person's workspace and sorting issues out."

Web-based presentations and meetings

"If you are giving a Web-based presentation, make sure you remind people to log on 5-10 minutes in advance if they have not used this service before. The system checks and client software installations take that much time and often hold people up unexpectedly.

"Also, if you have organised a meeting to discuss ideas or data then send the material out to the participants in advance so that they have a fair opportunity to read and contemplate before the meeting. There is no point sending stuff an hour before the scheduled meeting if you expect people to take decisions based on the content and data," says Rajit.

Increase in 'coffee cluster' culture

The buzz around coffee machines has largely eliminated the 'office boy' concept.

"It creates a social framework for informal chats with colleagues across departments and can be utilised very effectively, if people so want," believes Ray.

Some social butterflies find it irresistible to pull away from such flocks and can be seen spending many otherwise productive office hours in inane conversations. "It will be prudent to remember that coffee machines and water coolers are not meant to be places for hour-long conversations," suggests Pore.

Attitude towards women at work

Many more organisations have started to employ and support women, especially when they come back from maternity and other family-induced sabbaticals.

Preeti Bakaya Chopra, senior advisor, India Practise Interel PA, states all the way from Brussels: "Firms need to understand that all women who join them are not going to have a non-committal attitude to their home. A woman will go through her evolution of a wife and a mother, and if they want them to be with the organisation in the long term then it is also critical to display a more meaningful attitude beyond merely ornate HR policies.

"Organisations need to develop a "humane" approach towards their women work force. They are as much a key human asset as other gender and it is about time that firms treated them as such. This includes becoming more receptive to their need for flexibility in working hours post maternity, comfortable workplace where late nights are taken care of in terms of safe transportation back home and a respected and egalitarian office space where they are treated with respect and any issues of gender discrimination are addressed at the earliest."

Open office, phones, YouTube et al

With the increase of cabin-less and wall-less offices, our working style and habits are open to people's interpretations. Most places, Facebook and YouTube are a constant on all machines.

Exercise discretion and try to keep designated small time slots during lunch or coffee breaks for visiting your favourite social networking sites. Also be vigilant of loud ringtones that may be music to your ears but can be annoying for those around trying to get some work done.

Beware of the fact that videos and heavy downloads choke the bandwidth and hamper work.

The 'Go Green' effect

Almost all organisations the world over have become particular about protecting the environment and are using various platforms to spread awareness about sustainability.

Pore insists that one must "print only if you need to and if you print it, you go pick it. Use double-sided prints by default. Do not print what is not related to work ie photographs on colour printers, newspapers, recipes, e-books, magazines, etc. Also remember to switch off lights, ACs, monitors, computers etc when not in use."

Aby Joseph, an ardent 'Go Green' supporter and HR professional at Wrigley, makes a few pertinent points towards the 'Go Green' initiatives at his workplace. "The font 'Century Gothic' uses the least amount of ink when printed, and this is what we recommend all associates to use as default setting. We shun using paper cups as far as possible and try to educate all around us about carrying less of plastic and more of cloth bags. If your infrastructure can support it, 'cloud computing' can be an extremely significant effort towards reducing e-waste."

Mind your language

It may have been cool sometime back to toss the 'F' word around. These days, it's so passe. Sneha Rastogi*, content designer in an e-learning company, vehemently recommends immediate action against employees who fling the 'F' word casually at those around, unmindful of the gender.

"The entire team, especially the ladies, had complained to the manager about this team member who thinks he is a 'cool dude' when he uses colourful language. He doesn't realise that he actually reeks of filth and none of us want to work with him anymore! We had to put our foot down and insist on his removal from the team as he was a drain on patience and energy."

Conference calls

Rajit sums up the new expectations at workplace neatly by including the ubiquitous conference call that has supplanted the weekly face-to-face office meeting.

"While leading a conference call, make sure you sign on a few minutes before the appointed time. This gives you some time to engage in welcome small talk with other participants who are early, before the real meeting starts. Basics, such as getting on the call on time, being in a quiet place, and if you can't find a quiet place then keeping your phone on mute are given. While speaking from a remote place, you ask the audience if they can hear you clearly. If you are on the move, let the others know that you are doing so and may drop off if you hit a dead zone."

Use of social media

The plethora of social media platforms has suddenly unleashed the desire in some people to share all they possibly can! However, there need to be well-defined peripheries.

"Be sensitive about adding colleagues from work, especially your boss to your "friends" network on social media including LinkedIn. Be sensitive about the information you post online in such scenarios. You may accidentally end up offending your boss or disclosing confidential information," says Pore.

As Rajit puts it, "Gone are the days that companies blocked Internet access. In most workplaces today access to email and social media sites is permitted. While we all like to take short breaks from work to check these out, be reasonable in your usage. Don't use a public social media network to conduct work-related communication with a colleague who sits in the same building. This may also be a security risk for your company!"

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2011-02-03T08:02:00.000-08:00

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Why Do Marriages Fall Apart - Infographic of the Day

2011-02-03T07:56:00.000-08:00

Why Do Marriages Fall Apart?

You’ll be surprised to see who values marriage the most in modern America.

American marriages have never been more precarious. But why do marriages fall apart, and how are families changing as a result?

The following infographic, by Tiffany Farrant and PromotionalCodes.org.uk, casts a piercing eye on the institution. Based on the annual report by The National Marriage Project, it paints a picture of marriage becoming a less and less relevant factor in the way American’s live and raise children. The short version: Marriage is simply shrinking as a cultural value; where 66% of women over 15 were married in 1960, the figure has shrunk every decade since.* Now, it’s just 51%:

But perhaps the most surprising fact is who is getting married — and staying married. Conservative pundits will gleefully tell you that the educated elite are busy destroying every last thing that America holds dear, with family values being at the top of the list. (At the same time, when Levi Johnston first promised to marry Bristol Palin, this was held as some sort of ideal. How’d that work out?) But the fact is that being educated, making more money, waiting on kids, getting married late, and being religious are the most reliable indicators that your marriage will last:

Now, to say that marriage is disappearing isn’t to say that people are opting to remain single. Rather, it appears that couples are living together in presumably monogamous relationships without getting married at all, while child rearing has become more and more disconnected from the institution of marriage:

Time To Comfortable With Negative Feelings

2011-02-03T06:52:00.001-08:00

As human beings, we all move towards that which is familiar. It’s a natural instinct to seek out familiar things because we are comfortable with them – be they people, places, or things. The same is true of feelings.

Feelings that are familiar give us a sense of security. Our brain tells us “I know this feeling! This is familiar. This is safe.” The feelings we are familiar with were shaped by our families when we were growing up.

If you lived in a family where the motto was “Stand up for yourself,” when someone insulted you, chances are you learned to fight back, and you’re familiar and comfortable doing so. However, if your family upbringing was “Don’t make trouble,” then it’s more comfortable for you to not say anything and accept the insult.

If you want to change the way you feel, you must first understand why you feel the way you do.

Feelings can lead you to act in self-defeating ways. If you fill your head with depressing and negative thoughts, and you allow yourself to feel shameful and angry feelings, you will never be able to act confidently.

Many of us have picked up negative feelings growing up that become the normal way for us to feel. If we learned to feel ashamed to express interest in girls when we were young, it won’t get any better as we get older. So whatever negative feelings you experienced growing up are considered “normal” by you, so that when good feelings come along, we may feel insecure and scared. When this happens, we actively seek out those negative feelings we’ve become accustomed to, even if they are painful.

Each of us naturally assumes the emotional traits of his own family. Your family is the one that sets the starting point of your development. Whenever you feel good or bad, you are basing that on the standard your family set for you.

When things go bad, we work to try and raise our feelings back to that set point. When things go good, we also work to lower those feelings back to the same point. There’s an internal barometer we all have that lets us know what we’re feeling, and we’re always working to return to what feels normal to us.

It’s the times where we feel too good that can be the most uncomfortable.

When this happens, we will actually WORK to spoil a good time for us. For instance, let’s say you meet a really beautiful woman that you really like, and its a great opportunity for you to hook up with her! But based on your comfort zone, you might think:

“Wait, this girl’s too wonderful, she’d never go for a guy like me.”

This type of reaction reduces the good feelings you were having and brings you back down to what you’re familiar with – a feeling of unreservedness – that you probably grew up feeling accustomed to.

Remember: familiar feelings = a sense of security. This is why so many people are more comfortable feeling bad about themselves than good! They’ve actually trained themselves to feel comfortable feeling bad! They’d rather not seek pleasure than avoid feeling pain.

When your familiar feelings are negative, they will damage your confidence.

The interesting thing about this is that we *logically* know that what we’re feeling isn’t right, or healthy, or even true! But for some reason, our logical brain is out of sync with our emotions, and we accept what we feel over what we think.

For many people, their feelings of shame are a form of logic. Our feelings literally shame our brain into accepting those negative and untrue thoughts, even when it knows better!

But remember that shame comes from self-criticism. Those who are self-critical imagine that everyone else is just as critical of them as they are of themselves! When you think like this, any type of confidence is almost impossible to achieve.

So what are the origins of your negative habits? What are the root causes of the feelings you experience? Chances are it can be traced back to your parents, but be careful not to blame them! It’s more important to understand your parent’s influence on your feelings so that you can stop blaming yourself for your current situation, rather than trying to figure out who to pass judgment on.

HOMEWORK: Sit down and think of how your parents would describe themselves. Are they using any of the five myths? Write down how your parents would describe themselves in those terms.

Would your mother consider herself “Old” and “Ugly?”

Would your father consider himself “Stupid” or a “Loser?”

Now look at how they describe you. Do any of these statements sound familiar?

• “Your brother is the smart one.”

• “Don’t be so stupid!”

• “You’re too fat! You need to lose weight.”

• “Don’t miss out on life like I did.”

• “You’re too old to start over.”

• “You’re short, like my side of the family.”

• “Enjoy your hair while it lasts, because you’ll be bald like me some day.”

• “You will never amount to anything.”

• “Prepare for the worst.”

Some families only predict dark times in the future and discourage their children from all types of positive habits, such as ambition and success. This is especially true when it comes to your sexual development. Do these sound familiar?

“You better not have sex before you’re married.”

“Just settle for what you can get.”

“Don’t date out of your league.”

“You better not let me catch you with a girl in your room.”

“You’ll never get a good woman looking like that.”

“If you don’t have a good job, you’ll never be able to get married.”

The list could go on. But you get the idea. Your parents, when they said those things, were instilling negative feelings about yourself and women in your head. They made your starting point one where you were never good enough, or attractive enough, or you had to feel guilty about your desires.

How to catch all the fish from the lake for 15 minutes!!!

2011-02-03T06:25:00.000-08:00

Only one day a year Aborigines Mali have the right to fish in the sacred waters of Lake Antogo. Hundreds of “fishing” going on the beach and a few hours of prayers. Then grab the basket and rush into the lake. Each catches for yourself and then have to hurry because the whole crowd clears the lake from the fish in minutes!

Top 10 Chinese Travel Destination

2011-02-02T18:57:00.001-08:00

Top 10 Chinese Travel Destination

Tourist destinations of the Asian countries are attracting a large number of people these days. People’s Republic of China, popularly known as China, the country with the highest population count has seen a significant development in the tourism industry over the past few decades. Not only the different historical places of tourist attraction, but also the easing of the country’s law in the tourism sector has given this sector a boost. The immigration laws of the country have also become flexible compared to the earlier days, so people can easily plan a trip to this country. Different cities and villages of China offer everything that a tourist may need to make his trip memorable. Whether you want to be close to the Chinese history, or you want a rocking nightlife, China has everything. From modern shopping malls to ancient temples, you can find everything in China. Therefore, if you are planning a trip to this country, you should do a little research on the country. Gaining information of every city and town in China might not be a feasible option. So, you can just check out the top ten Chinese travel destinations you cannot afford to miss.

1. Great Wall of China

Originally constructed in the fifth century BC, for protecting the northern frontiers of the country, the Great Wall of China has become a historical spot. It is often said that this is the only manmade work that can be seen from moon. If you visit China, you should never forget to visit this wall which stretches for almost 8,851.8 kilometers.

2. Mount Tai

Mount Tai, which has been credited as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO is listed among the “Five Sacred Mountains” of China. Records state, this mountain has attracted pilgrims for almost three thousand years. Located in the southern side of Jinan and northern side of Tai’an city, Mount Tai provides simple connectivity route.

3. Forbidden City

When you are in China, you cannot miss out Forbidden City in Beijing. The city has imperial palaces of different rulers starting from the Ming Dynasty till the Qing Dynasty. The walls and gates across the Forbidden City will make you understand the architectural skills as well as the defense tactics that Chinese rulers have been using for ages.

4. Potala Palace

Located in the Tibet Autonomous Region, Lhasa, the Potala Palace is a historical spot in China. Named after Mount Potala, this palace has been home to Dalai Lama till the 14th Dalai Lama decided to flee to India. Now, the Chinese government has converted this place into a museum.

5. Old Summer Palace

Old Summer Palace or the Imperial Gardens of China is known for its art works, architectural building, and obviously beautiful gardens. This historical place was destroyed during the English and French invasion in China. Yet, later this park has been named among the World Heritage Sites of UNESCO.

6. Lushan National Park on Mount Lu

Situated near the Lake Poyang in Jiangzi Province, Mount Lu is among the most visited mountains of China. The Lushan National Park is another World Heritage Site of UNESCO, located in China. It is not only popular among international tourists, but also among domestic tourists.

7. Chengde Mountain Resort

Situated in the Chinese city Chengde, the Chengde Mountain Resort boasts of having the largest imperial garden of the world. The mountain resort with seventy-two different scenic spots took almost nine decades for construction. Chinese Pagoda that is located in the Chengde Mountain Resort is a ‘must see’ spot in this resort.

8. The Three Gorges

The Three Gorges, located at the banks of the Yangtze River is known for its natural beauty. The picturesque beauty of this place will surely attract you. If you visit this place, you should not miss out the Three Gorges Dam in Xiling Gorge.

9. Temple and Cemetery of Confucius

Located in Qufu, the Temple of Confucius is the oldest and largest of all the Confucianism temples located across the world. The Cemetery of Confucius that dates back to the Zhou Dynasty is a heritage site. The architectural works in the Family Mansion of the Kong Dynasty will make you spellbound.

10. Temple of Heaven

Situated in Beijing, the Taoist Temple, or the Temple of Heaven is the place where the rulers of the Qing and Ming Dynasties frequented for their annual prayer ceremonies. Here they addressed their prayer to Heaven for good harvest of crops every year.

Secret Sex Codes

2011-02-02T06:06:00.000-08:00

It's about time you moved on from that boring ol' wink. You need to find a new way to signal to your hubby that it's time to head to the bedroom, and no, we don't mean to sleep!

Admittedly, it might be difficult, awkward or embarrassing to make an overt gesture, especially when you're with family, friends or the kids. But who said it's impossible? After all, James Bond and other spies have been using specially developed codes that seem to work really well.

So we thought it could help in the sex department as well! Here are some codes you could employ to tell him it's time to… err… retire:

When the kids are around

It's extremely difficult to let your husband know that you want to have sex, especially when the kids are around right? After all, your precious children can be so intelligent and pick up these things so quickly nowadays! So it's alright to be a little bit sneaky in situations like this. Why not say this like these to him:

'Hey honey, why don't you help me out with my homework?'

OR

'I think we need to take a nap right now, because we'll need our energy for later in evening.'

'I need to finish some work so I think I'll have dessert upstairs.'

When the entire family is around

We all know how impossible it is to spend quality time with the husband, especially when the entire family is around, all the time!

There's your mother-in-law who only talks about getting grandkids soon, your brother-in-law who's discussing business with your husband and the niece or nephew running around demanding attention. It's so much chaos, but don't lose hope. You can use these lines even if the entire family is around you:

'The insurance guy came over today and I have to go over some things with you urgently.'

OR

'I think I'll go to bed early tonight, and you should get some rest too, you have an early morning.'

'Our bedroom is in a mess and you said you'd pick up all your stuff… and you're not doing anything now!'

When the friends are around

You're done with dinner and want to escape from your friend's house/the restaurant to spend some alone time with your husband. So if you aren't the type who talks to your friends about your sex life, it's alright; these codes should help you get out of your social situation and into being with them and into the bedroom.

'You promised (insert child/niece/nephew's name) you'd help him with his homework!'

OR

'I have a headache!'

'My parents have invited us for desert. I forgot to mention mom will probably be serving her famous chocolate mousse and she'll give you a second helping if we're not too late, so we need to get going!' Psst… don't underestimate the use of metaphors.

Weird, Wacky, and Interesting facts about the human body

2011-02-02T04:48:00.000-08:00

The human body is an incredibly complex and intricate system, one that still baffles doctors and researchers on a regular basis despite thousands of years of medical knowledge. As a result, it shouldn’t be any surprise that even body parts and functions we deal with every day have bizarre or unexpected facts and explanations behind them. From sneezes to fingernail growth, here are 100 weird, wacky, and interesting facts about the human body.

The Brain

The human brain is the most complex and least understood part of the human anatomy. There may be a lot we don’t know, but here are a few interesting facts that we’ve got covered.

1. Nerve impulses to and from the brain travel as fast as 170 miles per hour. Ever wonder how you can react so fast to things around you or why that stubbed toe hurts right away? It’s due to the super-speedy movement of nerve impulses from your brain to the rest of your body and vice versa, bringing reactions at the speed of a high powered luxury sports car.

2. The brain operates on the same amount of power as 10-watt light bulb. The cartoon image of a light bulb over your head when a great thought occurs isn’t too far off the mark. Your brain generates as much energy as a small light bulb even when you’re sleeping.

3. The human brain cell can hold 5 times as much information as the Encyclopedia Britannica. Or any other encyclopedia for that matter. Scientists have yet to settle on a definitive amount, but the storage capacity of the brain in electronic terms is thought to be between 3 or even 1,000 terabytes. The National Archives of Britain, containing over 900 years of history, only takes up 70 terabytes, making your brains memory power pretty darn impressive.

4. Your brain uses 20% of the oxygen that enters your bloodstream. The brain only makes up about 2% of our body mass, yet consumes more oxygen than any other organ in the body, making it extremely susceptible to damage related to oxygen deprivation. So breathe deep to keep your brain happy and swimming in oxygenated cells.

5. The brain is much more active at night than during the day. Logically, you would think that all the moving around, complicated calculations and tasks and general interaction we do on a daily basis during our working hours would take a lot more brain power than, say, lying in bed. Turns out, the opposite is true. When you turn off your brain turns on. Scientists don’t yet know why this is but you can thank the hard work of your brain while you sleep for all those pleasant dreams.

6. Scientists say the higher your I.Q. the more you dream. While this may be true, don’t take it as a sign you’re mentally lacking if you can’t recall your dreams. Most of us don’t remember many of our dreams and the average length of most dreams is only 2-3 seconds–barely long enough to register.

7. Neurons continue to grow throughout human life. For years scientists and doctors thought that brain and neural tissue couldn’t grow or regenerate. While it doesn’t act in the same manner as tissues in many other parts of the body, neurons can and do grow throughout your life, adding a whole new dimension to the study of the brain and the illnesses that affect it.

8. Information travels at different speeds within different types of neurons. Not all neurons are the same. There are a few different types within the body and transmission along these different kinds can be as slow as 0.5 meters/sec or as fast as 120 meters/sec.

9. The brain itself cannot feel pain. While the brain might be the pain center when you cut your finger or burn yourself, the brain itself does not have pain receptors and cannot feel pain. That doesn’t mean your head can’t hurt. The brain is surrounded by loads of tissues, nerves and blood vessels that are plenty receptive to pain and can give you a pounding headache.

10. 80% of the brain is water. Your brain isn’t the firm, gray mass you’ve seen on TV. Living brain tissue is a squishy, pink and jelly-like organ thanks to the loads of blood and high water content of the tissue. So the next time you’re feeling dehydrated get a drink to keep your brain hydrated.

Hair and Nails

While they’re not a living part of your body, most people spend a good amount of time caring for their hair and nails. The next time you’re heading in for a haircut or manicure, think of these facts.

11. Facial hair grows faster than any other hair on the body. If you’ve ever had a covering of stubble on your face as you’re clocking out at 5 o’clock you’re probably pretty familiar with this. In fact, if the average man never shaved his beard it would grow to over 30 feet during his lifetime, longer than a killer whale.

12. Every day the average person loses 60-100 strands of hair. Unless you’re already bald, chances are good that you’re shedding pretty heavily on a daily basis. Your hair loss will vary in accordance with the season, pregnancy, illness, diet and age.

13. Women’s hair is about half the diameter of men’s hair. While it might sound strange, it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise that men’s hair should be coarser than that of women. Hair diameter also varies on average between races, making hair plugs on some men look especially obvious.

14. One human hair can support 3.5 ounces. That’s about the weight of two full size candy bars, and with hundreds of thousands of hairs on the human head, makes the tale of Rapunzel much more plausible.

15. The fastest growing nail is on the middle finger. And the nail on the middle finger of your dominant hand will grow the fastest of all. Why is not entirely known, but nail growth is related to the length of the finger, with the longest fingers growing nails the fastest and shortest the slowest.

16. There are as many hairs per square inch on your body as a chimpanzee. Humans are not quite the naked apes that we’re made out to be. We have lots of hair, but on most of us it’s not obvious as a majority of the hairs are too fine or light to be seen.

17. Blondes have more hair. They’re said to have more fun, and they definitely have more hair. Hair color determines how dense the hair on your head is. The average human has 100,000 hair follicles, each of which is capable of producing 20 individual hairs during a person’s lifetime. Blondes average 146,000 follicles while people with black hair tend to have about 110,000 follicles. Those with brown hair fit the average with 100,000 follicles and redheads have the least dense hair, with about 86,000 follicles.

18. Fingernails grow nearly 4 times faster than toenails. If you notice that you’re trimming your fingernails much more frequently than your toenails you’re not just imagining it. The nails that get the most exposure and are used most frequently grow the fastest. On average, nails on both the toes and fingers grow about one-tenth of an inch each month.

19. The lifespan of a human hair is 3 to 7 years on average. While you quite a few hairs each day, your hairs actually have a pretty long life providing they aren’t subject to any trauma. Your hairs will likely get to see several different haircuts, styles, and even possibly decades before they fall out on their own.

20. You must lose over 50% of your scalp hairs before it is apparent to anyone. You lose hundreds of hairs a day but you’ll have to lose a lot more before you or anyone else will notice. Half of the hairs on your pretty little head will have to disappear before your impending baldness will become obvious to all those around you.

21. Human hair is virtually indestructible. Aside from it’s flammability, human hair decays at such a slow rate that it is practically non-disintegrative. If you’ve ever wondered how your how clogs up your pipes so quick consider this: hair cannot be destroyed by cold, change of climate, water, or other natural forces and it is resistant to many kinds of acids and corrosive chemicals.

Internal Organs

Though we may not give them much thought unless they’re bothering us, our internal organs are what allow us to go on eating, breathing and walking around. Here are some things to consider the next time you hear your stomach growl.

22. The largest internal organ is the small intestine. Despite being called the smaller of the two intestines, your small intestine is actually four times as long as the average adult is tall. If it weren’t looped back and forth upon itself it wouldn’t fit inside the abdominal cavity.

23. The human heart creates enough pressure to squirt blood 30 feet. No wonder you can feel your heartbeat so easily. Pumping blood through your body quickly and efficiently takes quite a bit of pressure resulting in the strong contractions of the heart and the thick walls of the ventricles which push blood to the body.

24. The acid in your stomach is strong enough to dissolve razorblades. While you certainly shouldn’t test the fortitude of your stomach by eating a razorblade or any other metal object for that matter, the acids that digest the food you eat aren’t to be taken lightly. Hydrochloric acid, the type found in your stomach, is not only good at dissolving the pizza you had for dinner but can also eat through many types of metal.

25. The human body is estimated to have 60,000 miles of blood vessels. To put that in perspective, the distance around the earth is about 25,000 miles, making the distance your blood vessels could travel if laid end to end more than two times around the earth.

26. You get a new stomach lining every three to four days. The mucus-like cells lining the walls of the stomach would soon dissolve due to the strong digestive acids in your stomach if they weren’t constantly replaced. Those with ulcers know how painful it can be when stomach acid takes its toll on the lining of your stomach.

27. The surface area of a human lung is equal to a tennis court. In order to more efficiently oxygenate the blood, the lungs are filled with thousands of branching bronchi and tiny, grape-like alveoli. These are filled with microscopic capillaries which oxygen and carbon dioxide. The large amount of surface area makes it easier for this exchange to take place, and makes sure you stay properly oxygenated at all times.

28. Women’s hearts beat faster than men’s.The main reason for this is simply that on average women tend to be smaller than men and have less mass to pump blood to. But women’s and men’s hearts can actually act quite differently, especially when experiencing trauma like a heart attack, and many treatments that work for men must be adjusted or changed entirely to work for women.

29. Scientists have counted over 500 different liver functions. You may not think much about your liver except after a long night of drinking, but the liver is one of the body’s hardest working, largest and busiest organs. Some of the functions your liver performs are: production of bile, decomposition of red blood cells, plasma protein synthesis, and detoxification.

30. The aorta is nearly the diameter of a garden hose. The average adult heart is about the size of two fists, making the size of the aorta quite impressive. The artery needs to be so large as it is the main supplier of rich, oxygenated blood to the rest of the body.

31. Your left lung is smaller than your right lung to make room for your heart. For most people, if they were asked to draw a picture of what the lungs look like they would draw both looking roughly the same size. While the lungs are fairly similar in size, the human heart, though located fairly centrally, is tilted slightly to the left making it take up more room on that side of the body and crowding out that poor left lung.

32. You could remove a large part of your internal organs and survive. The human body may appear fragile but it’s possible to survive even with the removal of the stomach, the spleen, 75 percent of the liver, 80 percent of the intestines, one kidney, one lung, and virtually every organ from the pelvic and groin area. You might not feel too great, but the missing organs wouldn’t kill you.

33. The adrenal glands change size throughout life. The adrenal glands, lying right above the kidneys, are responsible for releasing stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. In the seventh month of a fetus’ development, the glands are roughly the same size as the kidneys. At birth, the glands have shrunk slightly and will continue to do so throughout life. In fact, by the time a person reaches old age, the glands are so small they can hardly be seen.

Bodily Functions

We may not always like to talk about them, but everyone has to deal with bodily functions on a daily basis. These are a few facts about the involuntary and sometimes unpleasant actions of our bodies.

34. Sneezes regularly exceed 100 mph. There’s a good reason why you can’t keep your eyes open when you sneeze–that sneeze is rocketing out of your body at close to 100 mph. This is, of course, a good reason to cover your mouth when you sneeze.

35. Coughs clock in at about 60 mph. Viruses and colds get spread around the office and the classroom quickly during cold and flu season. With 60 mph coughs spraying germs far and wide, it’s no wonder.

36. Women blink twice as many times as men do. That’s a lot of blinking every day. The average person, man or woman, blinks about 13 times a minute.

37. A full bladder is roughly the size of a soft ball. No wonder you have to run to bathroom when you feel the call of the wild. The average bladder holds about 400-800 cc of fluid but most people will feel the urge to go long before that at 250 to 300 cc.

38. Approximately 75% of human waste is made of water. While we might typically think that urine is the liquid part of human waste products, the truth is that what we consider solid waste is actually mostly water as well. You should be thankful that most waste is fairly water-filled, as drier harder stools are what cause constipation and are much harder and sometimes painful to pass.

39. Feet have 500,000 sweat glands and can produce more than a pint of sweat a day. With that kind of sweat-producing power it’s no wonder that your gym shoes have a stench that can peel paint. Additionally, men usually have much more active sweat glands than women.

40. During your lifetime, you will produce enough saliva to fill two swimming pools. Saliva plays an important part in beginning the digestive process and keeping the mouth lubricated, and your mouth produces quite a bit of it on a daily basis.

41. The average person expels flatulence 14 times each day. Even if you’d like to think you’re too dignified to pass gas, the reality is that almost everyone will at least a few times a day. Digestion causes the body to release gases which can be painful if trapped in the abdomen and not released.

42. Earwax production is necessary for good ear health. While many people find earwax to be disgusting, it’s actually a very important part of your ear’s defense system. It protects the delicate inner ear from bacteria, fungus, dirt and even insects. It also cleans and lubricates the ear canal.

Sex and Reproduction

As taboo as it may be in some places, sex is an important part of human life as a facet of relationships and the means to reproduce. Here are a few things you might not have known.

43. On any given day, sexual intercourse takes place 120 million times on earth. Humans are a quickly proliferating species, and with about 4% of the world’s population having sex on any given day, it’s no wonder that birth rates continue to increase in many places all over the world.

44. The largest cell in the human body is the female egg and the smallest is the male sperm. While you can’t see skin cells or muscle cells, the ovum is typically large enough to be seen with the naked eye with a diameter of about a millimeter. The sperm cell, on the other hand, is tiny, consisting of little more than nucleus.

45. The three things pregnant women dream most of during their first trimester are frogs, worms and potted plants. Pregnancy hormones can cause mood swings, cravings and many other unexpected changes. Oddly enough, hormones can often affect the types of dreams women have and their vividness. The most common are these three types, but many women also dream of water, giving birth or even have violent or sexually charged dreams.

46. Your teeth start growing 6 months before you are born. While few babies are born with teeth in place, the teeth that will eventually push through the gums of young children are formed long before the child even leaves the womb. At 9 to 12 weeks the fetus starts to form the teeth buds that will turn into baby teeth.

47. Babies are always born with blue eyes. The color of your eyes depends on the genes you get from your parents, but at birth most babies appear to have blue eyes. The reason behind this is the pigment melanin. The melanin in a newborn’s eyes often needs time after birth to be fully deposited or to be darkened by exposure to ultraviolet light, later revealing the baby’s true eye color.

48. Babies are, pound for pound, stronger than an ox. While a baby certainly couldn’t pull a covered wagon at its present size, if the child were the size of an oxen it just might very well be able to. Babies have especially strong and powerful legs for such tiny creatures, so watch out for those kicks.

49. One out of every 2,000 newborn infants has a tooth when they are born. Nursing mothers may cringe at this fact. Sometimes the tooth is a regular baby tooth that has already erupted and sometimes it is an extra tooth that will fall out before the other set of choppers comes in.

50. A fetus acquires fingerprints at the age of three months. When only a small fraction of the way through its development, a fetus will have already developed one of the most unique human traits: fingerprints. At only 6-13 weeks of development, the whorls of what will be fingerprints have already developed. Oddly enough, those fingerprints will not change throughout the person’s life and will be one of the last things to disappear after death.

51. Every human spent about half an hour as a single cell. All life has to begin somewhere, and even the largest humans spent a short part of their lives as a single celled organism when sperm and egg cells first combine. Shortly afterward, the cells begin rapidly dividing and begin forming the components of a tiny embryo.

52. Most men have *****ions every hour to hour and a half during sleep. Most people’s bodies and minds are much more active when they’re sleeping than they think. The combination of blood circulation and testosterone production can cause *****ions during sleep and they’re often a normal and necessary part of REM sleep.

Senses

The primary means by which we interact with the world around us is through our senses. Here are some interesting facts about these five sensory abilities.

53. After eating too much, your hearing is less sharp. If you’re heading to a concert or a musical after a big meal you may be doing yourself a disservice. Try eating a smaller meal if you need to keep your hearing pitch perfect.

54. About one third of the human race has 20-20 vision. Glasses and contact wearers are hardly alone in a world where two thirds of the population have less than perfect vision. The amount of people with perfect vision decreases further as they age.

55. If saliva cannot dissolve something, you cannot taste it. In order for foods, or anything else, to have a taste, chemicals from the substance must be dissolved by saliva. If you don’t believe it, try drying off your tongue before tasting something.

56. Women are born better smellers than men and remain better smellers over life. Studies have shown that women are more able to correctly pinpoint just what a smell is. Women were better able to identify citrus, vanilla, cinnamon and coffee smells. While women are overall better smellers, there is an unfortunate 2% of the population with no sense of smell at all.

57. Your nose can remember 50,000 different scents. While a bloodhound’s nose may be a million times more sensitive than a human’s, that doesn’t mean that the human sense of smell is useless. Humans can identify a wide variety of scents and many are strongly tied to memories.

58. Even small noises cause the pupils of the eyes to dilate. It is believed that this is why surgeons, watchmakers and others who perform delicate manual operations are so bothered by uninvited noise. The sound causes their pupils to change focus and blur their vision, making it harder to do their job well.

59. Everyone has a unique smell, except for identical twins. Newborns are able to recognize the smell of their mothers and many of us can pinpoint the smell of our significant others and those we are close to. Part of that smell is determined by genetics, but it’s also largely do to environment, diet and personal hygiene products that create a unique chemistry for each person.

Aging and Death

From the very young to the very old, aging is a necessary and unavoidable part of life. Learn about the process with these interesting, if somewhat strange facts.'

60. The ashes of a cremated person average about 9 pounds. A big part of what gives the human body weight is the water trapped in our cells. Once cremated, that water and a majority of our tissues are destroyed, leaving little behind.

61. Nails and hair do not continue to grow after we die. They do appear longer when we die, however, as the skin dehydrates and pulls back from the nail beds and scalp.

62. By the age of 60, most people will have lost about half their taste buds. Perhaps you shouldn’t trust your grandma’s cooking as much as you do. Older individuals tend to lose their ability to taste, and many find that they need much more intense flavoring in order to be able to fully appreciate a dish.

63. Your eyes are always the same size from birth but your nose and ears never stop growing. When babies look up at you with those big eyes, they’re the same size that they’ll be carrying around in their bodies for the rest of their lives. Their ears and nose, however, will grow throughout their lives and research has shown that growth peaks in seven year cycles.

64. By 60 years of age, 60-percent of men and 40-percent of women will snore. If you’ve ever been kept awake by a snoring loved one you know the sound can be deafening. Normal snores average around 60 decibels, the noise level of normal speech, intense snores can reach more than 80 decibels, the approximate level caused by a jackhammer breaking up concrete.

65. A baby’s head is one-quarter of it’s total length, but by age 25 will only be one-eighth of its total length. As it turns out, our adorably over-sized baby heads won’t change size as drastically as the rest of our body. The legs and torso will lengthen, but the head won’t get much longer.

Disease and Injury

Most of us will get injured or sick at some point in our lives. Here are some facts on how the human body reacts to the stresses and dangers from the outside world.

66. Monday is the day of the week when the risk of heart attack is greatest. Yet another reason to loathe Mondays! A ten year study in Scotland found that 20% more people die of heart attacks on Mondays than any other day of the week. Researchers theorize that it’s a combination of too much fun over the weekend with the stress of going back to work that causes the increase.

67. Humans can make do longer without food than sleep. While you might feel better prepared to stay up all night partying than to give up eating, that feeling will be relatively short lived. Provided there is water, the average human could survive a month to two months without food depending on their body fat and other factors. Sleep deprived people, however, start experiencing radical personality and psychological changes after only a few sleepless days. The longest recorded time anyone has ever gone without sleep is 11 days, at the end of which the experimenter was awake, but stumbled over words, hallucinated and frequently forgot what he was doing.

68. A simple, moderately severe sunburn damages the blood vessels extensively. How extensively? Studies have shown that it can take four to fifteen months for them to return to their normal condition. Consider that the next time you’re feeling too lazy to apply sunscreen before heading outside.

69. Over 90% of diseases are caused or complicated by stress. That high stress job you have could be doing more than just wearing you down each day. It could also be increasing your chances of having a variety of serious medical conditions like depression, high blood pressure and heart disease.

70. A human head remains conscious for about 15 to 20 seconds after it is been decapitated. While it might be gross to think about, the blood in the head may be enough to keep someone alive and conscious for a few seconds after the head has been separated from the body, though reports as to the accuracy of this are widely varying.

Muscles and Bones

Muscles and Bones provide the framework for our bodies and allow us to jump, run or just lie on the couch. Here are a few facts to ponder the next time you’re lying around.

71. It takes 17 muscles to smile and 43 to frown. Unless you’re trying to give your face a bit of a workout, smiling is a much easier option for most of us. Anyone who’s ever scowled, squinted or frowned for a long period of time knows how it tires out the face which doesn’t do a thing to improve your mood.

72. Babies are born with 300 bones, but by adulthood the number is reduced to 206. The reason for this is that many of the bones of children are composed of smaller component bones that are not yet fused like those in the skull. This makes it easier for the baby to pass through the birth canal. The bones harden and fuse as the children grow.

73. We are about 1 cm taller in the morning than in the evening. The cartilage between our bones gets compressed by standing, sitting and other daily activities as the day goes on, making us just a little shorter at the end of the day than at the beginning.

74. The strongest muscle in the human body is the tongue. While you may not be able to bench press much with your tongue, it is in fact the strongest muscle in your body in proportion to its size. If you think about it, every time you eat, swallow or talk you use your tongue, ensuring it gets quite a workout throughout the day.

75. The hardest bone in the human body is the jawbone. The next time someone suggests you take it on the chin, you might be well advised to take their advice as the jawbone is one of the most durable and hard to break bones in the body.

76. You use 200 muscles to take one step. Depending on how you divide up muscle groups, just to take a single step you use somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 muscles. That’s a lot of work for the muscles considering most of us take about 10,000 steps a day.

77. The tooth is the only part of the human body that can’t repair itself. If you’ve ever chipped a tooth you know just how sadly true this one is. The outer layer of the tooth is enamel which is not a living tissue. Since it’s not alive, it can’t repair itself, leaving your dentist to do the work instead.

78. It takes twice as long to lose new muscle if you stop working out than it did to gain it. Lazy people out there shouldn’t use this as motivation to not work out, however. It’s relatively easy to build new muscle tissue and get your muscles in shape, so if anything, this fact should be motivation to get off the couch and get moving.

79. Bone is stronger than some steel. This doesn’t mean your bones can’t break of course, as they are much less dense than steel. Bone has been found to have a tensile strength of 20,000 psi while steel is much higher at 70,000 psi. Steel is much heavier than bone, however, and pound for pound bone is the stronger material.

80. The feet account for one quarter of all the human body’s bones. You may not give your feet much thought but they are home to more bones than any other part of your body. How many? Of the two hundred or so bones in the body, the feet contain a whopping 52 of them.

Microscopic Level

Much of what takes place in our bodies happens at a level that we simply can’t see with the naked eye. These facts will show you that sometimes that might be for the best.

81. About 32 million bacteria call every inch of your skin home. Germaphobes don’t need to worry however, as a majority of these are entirely harmless and some are even helpful in maintaining a healthy body.

82. Humans shed and regrow outer skin cells about every 27 days. Skin protects your delicate internal organs from the elements and as such, dries and flakes off completely about once a month so that it can maintain its strength. Chances are that last month’s skin is still hanging around your house in the form of the dust on your bookshelf or under the couch.

83. Three hundred million cells die in the human body every minute. While that sounds like a lot, it’s really just a small fraction of the cells that are in the human body. Estimates have placed the total number of cells in the body at 10-50 trillion so you can afford to lose a few hundred million without a hitch.

84. Humans shed about 600,000 particles of skin every hour. You may not think much about losing skin if yours isn’t dry or flaky or peeling from a sunburn, but your skin is constantly renewing itself and shedding dead cells.

85. Every day an adult body produces 300 billion new cells. Your body not only needs energy to keep your organs up and running but also to constantly repair and build new cells to form the building blocks of your body itself.

86. Every tongue print is unique. If you’re planning on committing a crime, don’t think you’ll get away with leaving a tongue print behind. Each tongue is different and yours could be unique enough to finger you as the culprit.

87. Your body has enough iron in it to make a nail 3 inches long. Anyone who has ever tasted blood knows that it has a slightly metallic taste. This is due to the high levels of iron in the blood. If you were to take all of this iron out of the body, you’d have enough to make a small nail and very severe anemia.

88. The most common blood type in the world is Type O. Blood banks find it valuable as it can be given to those with both type A and B blood. The rarest blood type, A-H or Bombay blood due to the location of its discovery, has been found in less than hundred people since it was discovered.

89. Human lips have a reddish color because of the great concentration of tiny capillaries just below the skin. The blood in these capillaries is normally highly oxygenated and therefore quite red. This explains why the lips appear pale when a person is anemic or has lost a great deal of blood. It also explains why the lips turn blue in very cold weather. Cold causes the capillaries to constrict, and the blood loses oxygen and changes to a darker color.

Miscellaneous

Here are a few things you might not have known about all different parts of your anatomy.

90. The colder the room you sleep in, the better the chances are that you’ll have a bad dream. It isn’t entirely clear to scientists why this is the case, but if you are opposed to having nightmares you might want to keep yourself a little toastier at night.

91. Tears and mucus contain an enzyme (lysozyme) that breaks down the cell wall of many bacteria. This is to your advantage, as the mucus that lines your nose and throat, as well as the tears that wet your eyes are helping to prevent bacteria from infecting those areas and making you sick.

92. Your body gives off enough heat in 30 minutes to bring half a gallon of water to a boil. If you’ve seen the Matrix you are aware of the energy potentially generated by the human body. Our bodies expend a large amount of calories keeping us at a steady 98.6 degrees, enough to boil water or even cook pasta.

93. Your ears secrete more earwax when you are afraid than when you aren’t. The chemicals and hormones released when you are afraid could be having unseen effects on your body in the form of earwax. Studies have suggested that fear causes the ears to produce more of the sticky substance, though the reasons are not yet clear.

94. It is not possible to tickle yourself. Even the most ticklish among us do not have the ability to tickle ourselves. The reason behind this is that your brain predicts the tickle from information it already has, like how your fingers are moving. Because it knows and can feel where the tickle is coming from, your brain doesn’t respond in the same way as it would if someone else was doing the tickling.

95. The width of your armspan stretched out is the length of your whole body. While not exact down to the last millimeter, your armspan is a pretty good estimator of your height.

96. Humans are the only animals to produce emotional tears. In the animal world, humans are the biggest crybabies, being the only animals who cry because they’ve had a bad day, lost a loved one, or just don’t feel good.

97. Right-handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people do. This doesn’t have a genetic basis, but is largely due to the fact that a majority of the machines and tools we use on a daily basis are designed for those who are right handed, making them somewhat dangerous for lefties to use and resulting in thousands of accidents and deaths each year.

98. Women burn fat more slowly than men, by a rate of about 50 calories a day. Most men have a much easier time burning fat than women. Women, because of their reproductive role, generally require a higher basic body fat proportion than men, and as a result their bodies don’t get rid of excess fat at the same rate as men.

99. Koalas and primates are the only animals with unique finger

Prints. Humans, apes and koalas are unique in the animal kingdom due to the tiny prints on the fingers of their hands. Studies on primates have suggested that even cloned individuals have unique fingerprints.

100. The indentation in the middle of the area between the nose and the upper lip has a name. It is called the philtrum. Scientists have yet to figure out what purpose this indentation serves, though the ancient Greeks thought it to be one of the most erogenous places on the body.

Dogs 'can sniff out cancer in stool

2011-02-02T04:26:00.000-08:00

Melbourne, Feb 1 (ANI): Japanese scientists claim that a Labrador can detect bowel cancer in breath and stool samples with remarkable accuracy.

The research team, led by Hideto Sonoda at Kyushu University in ***uoka, Japan, says that the findings support hopes for an 'electronic nose' that could one day sniff a tumour at its earliest stages, reports ABC Science.

As part of the study, they used a specially trained female black labrador to carry out 74 "sniff tests" over a period of several months.

Each of the tests comprised five breath or stool samples, only one of which was cancerous.

The samples came from 48 people with confirmed bowel cancer at various stages of the disease and 258 volunteers with no bowel cancer or who had had cancer in the past.

They complicated the task for the eight-year-old canine detective by adding a few challenges to the samples, including samples from smokers or from subjects with other types of gut problems, which might have masked or interfered with other smells, but these did not interfere with the dog's olfactory accuracy.

Around half of the non-cancer samples came from people with bowel polyps, which are benign but are also a possible precursor of bowel cancer.

Six per cent of the breath samples, and 10 per cent of the stool samples, came from people with other gut problems, such as inflammatory bowel disease, ulcers, diverticulitis, and appendicitis.

In the study, the retriever performed as well as a colonoscopy, a technique in which a fibre-optic tube with a camera on the end is inserted into the rectum to look for suspect areas of the intestine.

It correctly spotted which samples were cancerous and which were not in 33 out of 36 breath tests, equal to 95 per cent accuracy, and in 37 out of 38 stool tests (98 per cent accuracy).

It performed especially well among people with early stage disease.

The researchers say that this study shows that cancer cells give off specific discernible odours as they circulate through the body.

Previous research has also found that dogs can sniff out bladder, lung, ovarian and breast cancer.

The study has been presented in the Gut, a British Medical Journal publication. (ANI)

Why has divorce become normal?

2011-02-02T03:58:00.000-08:00

In an ideal world, we would all be educated, successful, healthy and for those of us who choose it - happily married. What's more? We would all get it right the first time around. But sadly, in reality we live and learn as we go along. Earlier, women weren't given the luxury of choice when it came to marriage and were expected to stay with the man through hell or high water. Over the years though, parents as well as we, ourselves have become more practical and pragmatic in our approach to the institution. It is well preferred that once you tie the knot, you are one forever; but allowances are now made in case you've been too quick to judge compatibility and such. Hence, divorce rates have shown a significant increase in the last five years.

Why?

"I am going through a divorce right now, and it's only with my friends' support that I found the strength to go through it. My family is completely against my decision even though my husband was unfaithful throughout our marriage. I have made my peace with my decision because I know I did try to make it work," explains Avantika Joshi*, 25.

Besides infidelity, another big reason for the rise in numbers is because women are more now, and this gives them the financial independence to get out of a 'bad' marriage. "I simply got married for the wrong reasons. I was young and I thought that if I loved the man, it would all work out. Now I'm divorced and starting over at 26," sighs Sharmila Gupta*.

Reasons also include emotional or physical abuse and addictions like alcoholism and gambling. "In a bad marriage, especially an abusive one, the woman can now walk out without being judged by society or considered a failure just because her marriage failed," comments Chrisann Almeida- Creado, socio-psychologist. All marriages don't have to be messy. It can also be two adults mutually consenting that they are not compatible with each other. "I also feel that a couple must try harder if they have a child because at the end of the day, a child needs both parents. That being said, constant fighting and bickering is also damaging to a child's emotional development," adds Chrisann.

If you want to avoid it

In this mechanised generation, we want everything instantaneously. Hence, we are completely ill equipped at tolerating frustration because we are unable to handle delayed gratification. This means that small misunderstandings get blown up into huge fights, as we lack simple patience. Just the way you break a mobile and get a new one, you can now fight with a spouse and get a new one. Snap! Always try harder and remind yourselves that everything can't happen in an instant, especially with regard to relationships.

Keep these in mind before you say 'I do'

•Even though it is believed that opposites attract, it is like mindedness that sustains a long-term relationship. Both men and women should look for partners with the same values and ideologies or at least make sure that the differences are not to drastic.

•Don't marry just out of love because there is a lot more to a relationship than love.

•Look out for temperamental compatibility, which is the basic nature of your partner that should complement yours. If you put a practical and logical person together with a very emotionally dependent person, there is bound to be trouble later.

•Sexual compatibility is very important for a happy marriage.

Keep an eye out for long silences, passive aggressiveness and failure to communicate. These are signs of a relationship that will turn sour eventually.

•Any kind of abuse shouldn't be tolerated.

•If your partner is too controlling or too clingy and doesn't give you space, problems will arise later.

•Lastly, you have to be happy, be independent financially, physically and emotionally. Your happiness doesn't lie solely in your partner's hands.

What we really want on Valentine’s Day!

2011-02-01T21:22:00.000-08:00

Are you counting down? Valentine’s Day is quickly approaching, and Head of Romance at Hallmark Cards, what we really want on Valentine’s Day.

We need some tips! Here reveals some romance tips which will make you top of the class come Valentine’s Day:

Gifts:

* A Valentine’s card, whether it’s cute, classy, traditional or tacky, is considered the most important item to receive on Valentine’s Day- don’t neglect such a simple touch! Upload photographs to one of our Personalized Valentine’s cards to make it extra special.

* A home-made gift shows thought, consideration and creativity- think along the lines of home-made muffins, a personalized photo frame (so they can frame your thoughtful personalized Valentine’s card of course!) or a delicious three course dinner for extra brownie points.

Messages:

* What you write in your personalized Valentine’s day card says way more about your relationship than what you buy.

* Personalized messages and private jokes show openness and the ability to be honest about your feelings, but remember to keep it clean as other people may well end up reading it!

* If you want to write a poem, avoid channeling your inner cheese and remember it doesn’t have to rhyme to be romantic – so just give it a go. If you want a hand our online Valentine ‘s Day range always have a couple of verse options to choose from.

Dates:

* Dream dates are all about personal touches and don’t just have to be about wining and dining, and splashing the cash!

* Personal grooming should be a given- but a bit of effort (a nice new shirt/haircut/new underwear) will not go unnoticed and get you extra brownie points boys and girls!

* A home-cooked meal, foot massage, bubble bath or even agreeing to watch the football/ Desperate Housewives are all activities that are easily achievable and just as effective as love hearts and roses.

* Why not create a personalized invitation for your date to make it really different?

Couple Get Married At -30 Degrees Celsius

2011-02-01T21:07:00.000-08:00

Couple Get Married At -30 Degrees Celsius

Only in Russia, some people would say. This couple decides to tie the know at -30 degrees Celsius. In the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, Sergei Kaunov and his Irina Kuzmenko decided to get married in the Enisei River. Believe it or not, the temperature in that time was far below zero. Sergei says, who is also a member of ice swimming club, that he has always dreaming about the wedding in freezing conditions. Besides that, as Segrei says, his fiancee Irina was the one who suggested such an extreme wedding ceremony. This couple for sure feel love in the air.

Mineral Waters $100 Wanna Pay?

2011-02-01T20:14:00.000-08:00

Drinking water is very expensive now, $0,4 just for a quart of water. And our country is rich in water. But there’s more water is extraordinarily expensive price. “Beverly Fillico Hills” is thedrinking water from springs that are produced by the company with the name Vieluce in Osaka, Japanese. Source of water used is a spring at the foot of the mountain Rokk?, kobe, Japanese. These springs are known as the best water to produce sake.

Because of this water source is very limited, so every month is only 5,000 bottles produced and per 750 ml can you buy with USD 100 per bottle. Still less? Proved in each of this drinking water production, there were two special bottles called “Kings and Queen ‘with a similar bottle cap with a crown of Emperor Fredrick II of the Roman Empire, and ornamented with Swarovski crystals, available for those who would release USD 230 only to bottles containing 750 ml of water

Scientifically Proven Things That Will Make You Happier

2011-02-01T08:26:00.000-08:00

Get in touch with your inner animal

Different things make men and women happy. Think of a keg for men and a manicure for women.

Evolutionary psychologist Satoshi Kanazawa says realizing this difference is one of the keys to happiness. "One of the best ways to improve happiness is to recognize and accept that we are animals," she writes. "We are all designed by evolution to be a certain way, and no amount of denial or fighting will change our evolutionary legacy and its implications. One of the ways that men and women are different is in what makes them happy."

A global Nielsen study of 28,153 people from 51 nations found what makes each sex tick: "Men are happier with money, while women find greater joy in friendships and relationships with their children, co-workers and bosses."

Attempt to break a bad habit

A recent study tracked the symptoms of depression in people who were trying to quit smoking. It was found that subjects were happiest whenever they were successful -- even if they were only successful for one day.

Simply trying to quit was enough to boost the subjects' moods.

Make up to $75,000 and not one penny more

Money doesn't buy happiness; countless studies have proven that.

Why? Because wealthy people usually make money by doing stressful work; they don't spend much time relaxing and enjoying life.

But a new study found that money can make you happy -- if your salary doesn't exceed $75,000.

Shorten your commute to 20 minutes

“Commuting to work was way down there [on the happiness chart]—people are in a terrible mood when they commute,”

But a twenty minute commute should improve moods tremendously, another group of researchers found. They observed 4,000 subjects and asked each to rate their happiness level on a scale of one to five. One of the highest measurements of happiness, they determined, was the shortened commute, and people rated their happiness highest when they had a twenty minute maximum travel time.

Make a gratitude adjustment

People who say thank you are generally happier people. So are those who frequently discuss and write about what they're thankful for. And if you can cherish the small things in life, scientists say you'll be even happier.

Christopher Peterson, a psychologist at the University of Michigan, says the ability to forgive is also at trait strongly linked to positive people.

Grow up

A paper in Psychological Science shows that older people are happier than their younger counterparts. Researchers believe this is either because their brains change chemically, or because older people are better at controlling their emotions.

"People may shift how they regulate their emotions over the course of their lifetime, perhaps by shifting to strategies that [enhance happiness]."

Find a mate (and a happy one at that)

It's a known fact that people who find a life partner are happier overall. And the saying, "happy wife, happy life" -- it's really true.

“What we saw over a long period of time is that if one spouse changed in terms of increasing happiness, the other spouse’s happiness would go up,” researcher Christiane Hoppmann tells MSNBC. “And if there was a dip in happiness, this dip would also affect the respective spouse."

Speed up your thinking

thinking quickly can cause feelings of elation. The researchers had subjects watch television in fast forward, quickly come up with solutions to problems, and read ideas that moved quickly on computer screens.

The results showed that participants experienced a feeling of elation, felt more creative and, in some instances, more powerful and energetic,"

Buy plane tickets instead of iPads

When it comes to happiness, experiences trump tangible items.

"It appears that prioritizing success and material goals is actually harmful to life satisfaction,"

Why?

Materials are more comparable. People get upset if they buy something and then realize they could have gotten a better deal, or if they feel their item is trumped by someone else's.

Rachael Rettner of LiveScience explains the reasons to take a trip abroad instead of a trip to the store:

"People are more likely to mull over their material purchases than they are experiential ones, second-guessing themselves about whether they really made the best choice.

"We tend to think of experiences more on their own terms, rather than in comparison with other things.

"It's easier for us to decide on an experiential purchase than a material one.

"We're more upset if we learn that someone else got a better deal, or that a better option exists, for a material purchase than for an experience-related one."

Have morning sex

It's a well-known fact that a healthy sex life increases happiness, but morning sessions give people an extra boost.

"Having sex in the morning releases the feel-good chemical oxytocin, which makes couples feel loving and bonded all day long,"

"Research suggests that adults who begin their day [with sex] are healthier and happier than those who simply opt for a cup of tea and some toast before heading out of the door,"

Get six hours and twenty minutes of sleep

The magic recipe for happiness is approximately six hours and twenty minutes of sleep every night,

Drink four libations per week

people who drink four libations per week reported feeling happier.

Eat four servings of fruits and veggies every day

Researchers found that healthy eaters who ate four servings of fruits and vegetables every day felt the best emotionally

Hit the gym and keep thin

"Exercise is no sure-fire happy pill, and some say it has to be intense, or anaerobic (involving short energy bursts that cause the body to run out temporarily of oxygen), to bring on the psychological boost, but experts say it is a part of the feel-good equation."

Exercise effects two primary happiness chemicals - endorphins and cortisol. Cortisol is a hormone produced when people feel stressed. Exercising burns it away while increasing the release of endorphins, a hormone that is said to cause more euphoric feelings than opiate drugs.

Get religious and meditate

The Quality Of Life Research Study at Harvard University shows people who believe in a higher power and are active in their religious communities are happier.

In addition, the study found that Loving-Kindness Meditation decreases stress, increases confidence, and makes people focused, peaceful and positive.

How Do Horses View The World

2011-02-01T07:41:00.000-08:00

Understanding how a horse sees the world can help a great deal when we’d like to know why horses act the way they do.Horses perceive their environment differently than humans because of the way their eyes are structured.

There is some controversy surrounding the eyes structure of horses. Horses were thought to have ramped retinas, meaning their eyes don’t form a true arc making the retina closer to the lens, but now it is believed that this may not be the case. A horse’s eyesight is optimized for grazing and watching for predators at the same time, but as such, it becomes a handicap when judging distance and height and this is why you’ll notice that horses lower their heads when approaching a jump. On approaching a jump, you may notice that horses lower their heads then raise them in an effort to appraise the height of the obstacle. When approaching an obstacle, the horse will lose sight of the jump right before takeoff; experienced riders take this into account and allow their horses to raise their heads before jumping.

As horses are color blind they can’t see colors as we do, they see the world as a mosaic of varying light reflections. They do however notice movement instantly and can react accordingly, much to the dismay of the inexperienced rider! An inexperienced horse may shy violently at any sudden movement, especially when in an unfamiliar situation. If something moves suddenly into their peripheral field of vision this will usually cause horses to bolt.

Horses, with their wide field of vision, have only two blind spots: that which is directly in front or behind them. When approaching a horse from the rear you should talk to him to avoid startling him. When tackling difficult terrain it’s a good idea to allow your horse free rein to enable him to find his footing easily.

Your horse’s eyes are very sensitive to light and this is why young or inexperienced horses seem nervous when you are trying to load them into a horsebox. Horses need time for their eyes to adjust to a darker environment such as a horsebox. Entering a horsebox is akin to entering a dark cave and your horse’s reluctance to do so is what saved its ancestors – caves housed dangerous predators!

Understanding your horse’s vision can help you understand why your horse reacts in various situations; a lot of the time inexperienced horse owners mistakenly believe their horse is intentionally acting up when the real reason for their horse’s behavior is related to the his vision and way of seeing the world.

Wedding Traditions Around The World

2011-02-01T07:06:00.000-08:00

All over the world each country celebrates the wedding day with some special and characteristic rituals that others may find strange and peculiar. Here are photos of some interesting wedding traditions from different cultures around the world.

A Pakistani bride’s hand are adorned with henna during the mehndi ceremony a few days before her wedding. The henna is meant to bring good luck to the marriage.

A Korean bride and groom wear traditional wedding clothes. The custom of the bride wearing a hanbok and groom wearing gwanbok dates back 2,000 years.

Moroccan brides wear an elaborate kaftan and heavy jewelry. The bride and female guests decorate their hands with henna.

Male guests wear traditional Highland outfits of kilts, jackets, and hose to weddings in Scotland.

In a Yoruba wedding in Nigeria, the groom and his friends prostrate themselves to the bride’s family before the bride is presented under a veil.

In Bolivia, a wedding party enjoys a meal next to Lake Titicaca. The bride and groom’s heads are doused with confetti and flower petals after the wedding ceremony.

In the United States, unmarried female wedding guests participate in the tradition of bouquet toss. Catching the bouquet is believed to bring good luck in getting engaged soon.

A Japanese couple perform the ritual of drinking 9 cups of sake during their wedding at a Shinto shrine.

A Chinese bride is presented to the groom’s family in a traditional red wedding carriage.

Mass weddings in India relieve families of financial strain associated with a traditional dowry and large wedding. These brides wear white instead of the traditional Indian red wedding dress as they belong to the Christian minority population in Punjab.

In France, the traditional wedding cake is croquembeuche, a majestic tower of cream puffs.

A bride and her parents assemble for their street wedding procession in a small town in Mexico.

Uigher brides often wear two different dresses, a white, western-style dress for the first day’s “cafe event” and a traditional Uigher dress on the second day when she greets the guests as a married woman.

Men in Afghanistan dance to the beat of the dhol during a wedding celebration in downtown Jalalabad. Afghan women often celebrate separately in the home of the bridal party.

In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the bride and groom offer tea to family elders in a traditional tea ceremony.

We couldn’t resist including this picture of a wedding party at the Wynn Hotel and Casino in Macau, the new gambling capital of the world. Hardly typical for this former Portuguese colony in China, it features French maid wedding attendants. Is it the start of a new tradition?

Animal-10 of the most dedicated workers around.

2011-02-01T06:50:00.000-08:00

This may surprise you, but ants have more of a purpose than putting a damper on your picnic. These industrious animals have workloads that may put your own to shame. In fact, many creatures work long days and nights just to survive in the wild, and if you think your 9-to-5 job is rough, a lot of these animals perform tasks that are very similar to jobs people do — though they may have completely different reasons for doing them and unique tools for getting the jobs done. Why do some birds, for example, work as interior

decorators? And how do beavers construct giant lodges by chewing on tree bark? Find out what a regular workday is like in the animal kingdom for 10 of the most dedicated workers around.

1. Corporate Employees: Honey Bees

These little dark brown- and yellow-striped insects are responsible for a multi-million dollar business. According to the University of Rhode Island’s horticulture program, between honey, beeswax and cross-pollination of other agricultural crops, honeybees produce more than $100 million dollars in profits each year in the U.S. alone. Much like any large company, there are a variety of roles that help the business inside the beehive run smoothly. The CEO is the queen bee, and her main responsibility is to reproduce more bees so the hive continuously has new workers. Field bees are responsible for leaving the hive to collect necessary supplies, like nectar, which they pass on to the worker bees at the hive. The worker bees are all female and are responsible for creating the honey. They regurgitate the nectar over and over to remove most of the water, which produces honey. Worker bees also provide heating and air-conditioning for the hive, warming it in the winter by waving their wings and cooling it by sprinkling water on the honeycomb. There are no vacations or happy hours at the end of a long day — like the rest of the animals in our countdown, their business runs around the clock with no overtime pay.

2. The Parents: Emperor Penguins

People all over the world have been enamored with the plight of emperor penguins ever since the documentary film “March of the Penguins” debuted in 2005. The film told the story of the epic voyage emperor penguins make every year in April, all for the purpose of breeding their young. The male emperor penguin could be considered Father of the Year when you consider the lengths this Antarctic animal goes to for his hatchling. After traveling an average of 50 miles (80 kilometers) from the ocean to a hatching ground, penguins mate and the mother produces an egg that she passes to the father. While the mother returns to the sea for food, the father sits on the egg for around 64 days until it hatches. Once the baby penguin emerges, the father keeps it warm and even feeds it nutrients secreted from his own esophagus until the mother returns. Upon the mother’s return, parental duties are exchanged so the male penguin can return to sea for his first meal in over four months. By December, which is summer in Antarctica, the pack ice begins to melt, revealing the ocean underneath. This happens just in time for the young emperor penguins, which are finally able to swim and collect food on their own.

3. The Farmers: Earthworms

The earthworm may seem like a simple animal, but Charles Darwin spent decades studying the slimy crawlers and once said they played a vital part in our world’s history. Darwin isn’t the only person to recognize their value. Most people who are into composting already know the benefit of earthworms. They are nature’s farmers, plowing the soil as they tunnel through it. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates that it takes earthworms 10 to 20 years on average to turn over the top 6 inches (15 centimeters) of soil. The tunnels they leave behind also serve a purpose by circulating air and water into the soil, keeping it fresh and nutrient-rich. Earthworm droppings, called castings, are also essential, as they are rich in nitrogen, calcium and other nutrients that are indispensable for a healthy ecosystem. According to the USDA, one square yard of soil can contain up to 300 earthworms, and while not all soil contains earthworms, their presence is usually a good sign of healthy dirt.

4. Demolition Experts: Termites

When most people hear termites, they immediately think of destruction, but these tiny wood eaters actually serve a purpose beyond being a homeowner’s worst nightmare. Termites appear to operate within a social system very similar to that of ants. The worker termites are white, or often appear transparent, and are first on the scene when a new wood source is found. They are responsible for locating food resources, excavating the wood, and caring for young termites. Soldier termites are physically mature and can be identified by their yellow to brown heads and black mouths. Their main responsibility is to protect the colony from enemies like ants or termites from competing colonies. The only winged termites in a colony are called alates, or swarmers, and they are in charge of starting new colonies. While billions of dollars are spent every year trying to control termite infestations, these little demolishers are an important part of forests’ ecosystems, since they break down cellulose in wood for consumption by plants and animals.

5. The Beauticians: Cleaner Wrasse

The many species of fish living in coral reefs have the cleaner wrasse to thank for living parasite-free. Similar to an aesthetician who scrubs the dead skin cells off a client’s feet, the cleaner wrasse offers a similar scrub-down to its fellow aquatic creatures. These tiny fish average only 2 to 3 inches (5 to 7 centimeters) in length, but they spend all day, every day working to rid other reef fish of unwanted parasites and dead scales. They really get into the nitty-gritty of their job, cleaning fins, tails and even mouths. Surprisingly, they even clean much larger fish that might normally be considered predators. But the cleaner wrasse’s job is deemed so important that, according to the Indianapolis Zoo, large fish are willing to forgo a snack in order to get a good cleaning. Of course, it’s not completely selfless work for the cleaner wrasse, since all of those parasites are like a buffet for them. Reef fish get clean and the cleaners get a full belly, making this work arrangement a win-win.

6. Interior Decorators: Bowerbirds

The male bowerbird is the Nate Berkus of the animal kingdom, with an eye for decorating that may make even the most talented interior designer look like an amateur. This hopeful bachelor doesn’t just build a nest for his potential mate; he lavishly adorns it, too — all in hopes of catching a female bowerbird’s attention. When designing, he arranges pebbles, shells, flowers and other objects to stage the nest. And according to recent studies published in the journal Current Biology, he even takes it one step further. Researcher John Endler explains that male bowerbirds actually stage the nest so that, when viewed from a specific spot, the arrangement makes objects — including the bowerbird — look bigger than they really are. Since competition is steep, with several male bowerbirds vying for the same females, this feathered friend can use all the help he can get.

7. The Butchers: African Wild Dogs

Long considered the butcher of the African desert, this dog takes the meat no one else wants. In fact, this species plays an essential role in the ecosystem by removing sick or injured animals, which helps keep balance and improves prey species. The hunters of the pack work together like a relay team when targeting prey. When they’ve locked in on their target, some dogs will begin running close to it, with other dogs in the pack running behind. Once the lead dogs begin to tire, those from the back of the pack take over. Thanks to teamwork, prey rarely escapes a chase. According to the San Diego Zoo, African wild dogs hunt twice daily and are successful 70 to 90 percent of the time, unlike lions, which have a much lower success rate at 30 to 40 percent. They also seem to believe it takes a village to raise their young, since the entire pack — which usually consists of 6 to 20 members — takes part in raising the pups.

8. The Hunters: Female Lions

Female lions are the working mothers of the animal kingdom. These big cats not only bring dinner to the table, they also nurture their young and often care for the cubs of other lionesses, too. While male lions are considered the kings of prides and protect their families from predators, the females do the majority of the hunting. Without manes to tip off potential prey, female lions are able to stalk their victims silently within 100 feet (30 meters) before they attack. These divas of the African desert hunt mostly at night and prove there’s something to the phrase “girl power” by working together to stalk and kill their prey.

9. The Builders: Beavers

The saying “busy as a beaver” might take on an entirely new meaning when you consider how active beavers truly are. Considered nature’s engineers, these long-toothed mammals are very adept at and diligent about building dams in rivers or streams to create ponds suitable for their lodging needs. Beginning in late summer and into the fall, beavers begin preparing their homes for winter. They gather wood by using their tails to prop them up while they chip away at tree trunks with their teeth. Once a tree has broken off from the trunk, the beaver breaks it down into smaller pieces that are more manageable to carry back to the location they plan to build on. Laying the sticks into the mud, they stack layers of wood until the dam is built. But a beaver’s job isn’t done once the dam is complete. It also works to dig out its living quarters, called a lodge, and stockpiles wood to eat during the long winter months. Although beaver dams are a headache for property owners that don’t want running streams blocked, the beaver does provide a useful service to other creatures like ducks and moose, which use the ponds as a water source.

10. Factory Workers: Ants

If you’ve ever had an ant farm, then you know an ant colony runs like a factory with well-defined roles and responsibilities. The queen ant’s only role is to reproduce, making her the sole producer of all ants born in a colony. A male ant’s only job is to mate with the queen, and unlike the queen, who lives for 15 to 20 years, males die shortly after mating. All of the other ants in the colony have specific jobs to keep it running smoothly. Worker ants are responsible for feeding and caring for the larvae produced by the queen, as well as keeping the colony clean, digging new tunnels and a variety of other tasks. Foraging ants are responsible for finding food and bringing their finds back to the colony. In addition to these roles, some ants act as security guards, scouting locations for the foragers and guarding the colony. While ants might appear to be nature’s nuisance, these tiny bugs eat dead insects and their underground tunnels help aerate soil, making them a vital part of any ecosystem.